Mad Men & Fifty Shades of Grey: Two Easy Steps to Lead Yourself into Mortal Sin

“Mad Men” is a pretty popular show. People talk about it all the time, rave about the cool-factor of the show, and have started bringing back the fashions of the early 1960’s (which I welcome, personally). So I decided to try watching it. I was hit in the first episode with adultery. Then as I progressed through the first season on Netflix, the adultery became more widespread through the characters. Serial adulterers.

Let’s not pretty this up with nice words like “affair.” A wedding can be called a “formal affair.” An affair is, according to the dictionary:

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This is far too kind for what adultery is: a mortal sin that rips families apart while it kills the soul of the people involved in the infidelity. And “Mad Men” is rife with it. Don Draper, who is supposed to be striking the “tragic hero” pose, is one of the worst. And he shows no regret for his disgusting actions. This is not a true tragic hero, who has flaw that he battles and attempts to overcome. Don doesn’t care. He sleeps with all manner of women, then goes home to his unsuspecting wife and children and pretends to be the devoted husband. He rips into his wife for wearing a bikini (“It makes you look desperate,” he tells her) after lying to her about where he was and why when he totalled his car. He is a liar and a hypocrite. And he doesn’t care or make attempts to not be one.

Constant exposure to this show over the last few months has done a bit of coarsening of my soul, making me less aware of spiritual dangers. I wasn’t paying as much attention to my thoughts, words, and actions. And I didn’t realize this fully until last night, when I succumbed to curiosity about the popular book 50 Shades of Grey. It’s all over the place, with all kinds of women reading it. It’s been mentioned on the news, the ladies of The View asked the president about it (he joked that he’d “ask Michelle” about it). I’ve heard it touted as a “sex book,” but that does not do justice to what it really is. Not suspecting exactly what kind of book it is, I picked it up at Barnes & Noble last night and read part of it.

Three Things to Avoid this Summer

It is porn.

Plain and simple, that is what it is. It’s not even original porn (as if there’s much of that, anyway), but a three-part rip-off of the non-fiction book 9 1/2 Weeks (made into a toned-down movie version in the 1980’s). But you can get similar stories in shorter form from Penthouse Forum.

I am absolutely shocked that this has become a mainstream best-selling book. To what depths has our culture sunk when a sado-masochistic sex fantasy – hard porn – sits out in the middle of Barnes & Noble for anyone to pick up and read?

IT’S SITTING AT THE FRONT OF THE STORE ON THEIR BESTSELLER SHELF!

No one – Christian, Catholic, or whatever – should be reading this trash. No one should kill their soul for a few cheap thrills that objectify people. Fiction or not, the one being objectified is you (and your lover, if you’re using this as some kind of turn-on).

Not only should you not be reading this, but it occurs to me that someone needs to get Barnes & Noble to pull this from the shelves where it sits next to the Teen Best Sellers in their stores. (If I’m not mistaken, my B&N has those shelves side-by-side.)

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4 thoughts on “Mad Men & Fifty Shades of Grey: Two Easy Steps to Lead Yourself into Mortal Sin”

Thank you for your courage and for the truth. I am disturbed by a) trend toward such demeaning and damaging content and b) ease with which it slides down the age scale to youth and younger . Same with Hunger Games IMHO.

I’m not saying that no one is able to watch Mad Men without it being an occasion of sin, but for me – with my background and my wandering years – Mad Men is not a good thing.

I do, however, fully approve of dressing more like Mrs. Draper. And Don. Don’s a snazzy dresser. Wish that kind of style would make a full comeback and we could get rid of the slutty look that is everywhere.

I totally agree about ‘Mad Men’. We rented Season 1 on Netflix in the past and didn’t get past Disc 1. It was offensive with no redemption whatsoever. A story about a guy that behaves badly with ZERO consequences cannot be helpful for society.

Note :: we didn’t stay tuned for very long. Maybe there are consequences and comeuppance in the show for such behavior, but we weren’t going to tune in to find out.